Migration theatre in South Africa with reference to Mike van Graan’s When swallows cry

Abstract

In this article a discussion on migrant theatre in South Africa is given, with special reference to Mike van Graan’s play When Swallows Cry (2017). In the introduction a short background is given in terms of migration statistics and issues (notably xenophobia) pertaining to the South African state and society. Against the background of an international and national upsurge in migrant theatre the view is expressed that though we have had migrant theatre pre-1994 during the heyday of Nationalist apartheid ideology, a change has occurred since 1994 when the political dispensation changed in South Africa and the African National Congress (ANC) came into power. The situation today is more complex where intra-continental and cross-continental migrancy is now part of everyone’s lives, as portrayed in Mike van Graan’s When Swallows Cry. Van Graan’s play thus reflects a changing focus in migrant plays in South Africa: from the very early plays concerned with internal migration in the country to plays that today reflect a more complex world (i.e. the often violent and xenophobic experiences of African migrants – also within a so-called new South Africa, but also in the rest of Africa and the bigger world).

In hierdie artikel word ʼn bespreking van migrasieteater in Suid-Afrika gegee met spesiale verwysing na Mike van Graan se drama, When Swallows Cry (2017). In die inleiding word ʼn kort agtergrond gegee van migrasie-statistieke, asook die probleme geassosieer daarmee (onder meer, xenofobie) met verwysing na die Suid-Afrikaanse regering en gemeenskap. Teen die agtergrond van ʼn internasionale en nasionale toename in migrasieteater word die beskouing gehuldig dat, hoewel ons migrasieteater gehad het voor 1994 gedurende die hoogbloei van die Nasionale Party se apartheidsideologie, ʼn verandering ingetree het sedert 1994 toe die ANC die politieke mag in Suid-Afrika oorgeneem het. Die situasie is tans meer kompleks met intra-kontinentale en kruis-kontinentale migrasie wat nou deel is van ons almal se lewens, soos wat Mike van Graan in When Swallows Cry ook uitbeeld. Van Graan se drama weerspieël dus ʼn veranderende fokus in migrasieteater in Suid-Afrika: vanaf die vroeë dramas wat hoofsaaklik gehandel het oor interne migrasie in die land tot dramas wat vandag ʼn meer komplekse wêreld reflekteer (naamlik die dikwelse geweldadige en xenofobiese ervarings van Afrika-migrante binne die sogenaamde nuwe Suid-Afrika, maar ook in die res van Afrika en die wêreld daar buite).